Posted
by
kdawson
on Monday May 25, 2009 @04:01AM
from the we-should-be-so-lucky dept.

Hugh Pickens writes "The Guardian reports that a Spanish woman who is thought to be the world's oldest blogger has died in Muxia, the northern coastal town where she was born on December 23, 1911. María Amelia López's posts, which chronicled her civil war memories, failing health, left-wing views, and cantankerous humor, attracted a global following and more than 500 readers have left tribute messages on her site after her family published a final post to announce her death. The blog began in 1995 as a gift from her grandson Daniel, with whom she lived, who had no idea what he was unleashing into cyberspace after he taught her to navigate the Internet after she pestered him to download biographies of poets and politicians. He later become her chief assistant, typing in her words as she dictated. 'Now so many people write to me that I can't hope to reply to them all, though I want to,' she explained. 'My grandson complains that he has to work as well, he can't spend all his time typing.' López said in an interview that the Internet had given her a new lease of life and in one of her last posts, published in February, she wrote; 'When I'm on the internet, I forget about my illness. The distraction is good for you — being able to communicate with people. It wakes up the brain, and gives you great strength.'" The Times adds, "Mrs Lopez became the world's oldest blogger on the death of 108-year-old Australian Oliver Riley in June 2008. The new holder of this unofficial title is unknown, although the actor Kirk Douglas, 92, who blogs regularly on his MySpace page, could be in the running. Twitter's oldest microblogger is the 104-year-old Briton Ivy Bean."

Twitter's oldest microblogger is NOT the 104-year-old Briton Ivy Bean. This story was set up by one of the many British "newspapers". The day before that story was published, she (or someone responsible for the article) created her account and only posted twice.

You appear to be wrong. As I write this, the last post on her feed [twitter.com] is less than 5 days old. The articles about her twittering were published 11 days ago. She had been using the site for about 3 days at the time, and had posted about 15 or so times by the looks of it. She also attracted attention when she signed up for facebook, nearly a year ago now, although it doesn't look like she's been keeping up the updates.

It seems rather dangerous being the world's oldest blogger. There has been a 100% fatality rate among previous holders of the title. I, for one, call for UK's equivalent of OSHA to investigate the safety of working conditions - something's fishy here. In addition, the Commission for Racial Equality needs to investigate rampant ageism and see that the perpetrators are appropriately punished, hopefully by public humiliation. Remember, thieves being paraded in public is barbaric, but it's OK to do to people whom society despises.

This is a sidebar in relation to something she said, "LÃpez said in an interview that the Internet had given her a new lease of life and in one of her last posts, published in February, she wrote; 'When I'm on the internet, I forget about my illness. The distraction is good for you â" being able to communicate with people. It wakes up the brain, and gives you great strength.'"

I've often thought the Internet would be a fabulous tool for the elderly, though unfortunately, they are the group least likely to embrace it, as any of you with grandparents can attest. You know I love you, grandma, but if you fucking right-click ONE MORE GOD DAMNED TIME WHEN I TELL YOU TO LEFT-CLICK, I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL STRANGLE YOU WITH MOUSE CORD.

Sorry, flashback. Anyway, with nothing but free time on their hands, and declining physical abilities, the elderly have a dirt cheap, incredibly entertaining and mentally stimulating (depending on where you go) alternative to the idiot box, that is merely a phone jack away. My grandfather, who passed before the Internet was popular, would have absolutely loved it. He was very smart. He loved to read. He loved to research things. He tinkered with small engines and held a couple patents related to coloring fiberglass. He made stained glass windows for churches in his spare time. With a tool like the Internet, who knows what he would have done with his final 10 or 20 years of life.

I've seen the vast majority of senior citizens I know wasting away in their recliners, spending their final years listening to Oprah, Judge Judy and reruns of Green Acres. I'm not sure they enjoy it so much as they are simply limited to what they can do at that age. They are usually on a fixed income, physically infirm to some degree, and have declining mental faculties. The Internet is a great way for them to spend their time, if only there was an easier way to get them to understand the technology behind it. Even interactive games would keep their synapses firing a lot more than soap operas and cribbage.

Not every senior citizen would use the Internet to further their education; in fact most wouldn't. But I'd personally rather watch my great aunt ding 80 in Warcraft than have her sit through the 8th rerun of Green Acres where Arnold gets in the vegetable patch.

Or get her an operating system that doesn't allow programmers to rely on a distinction between right- and left-click and, yes, I'm talking about OS X.

Uhh, OS X does allow for right clicks and you can also use a single button mouse on Windows/Linux if the second button troubles you. Few programs require use of the second button and for those that do there's a button on a keyboard for it.

Or with a command-click. Oh, yes, that's far more user-friendly! Whenever someone would click the right mouse button in Windows, let's make them hold a button on the keyboard while left-clicking. And let's have the mouse behave differently when you press on the right side of it depending on whether or not your finger is still resting on the left side!

I think maybe the problem is that 'right click' and 'left click' aren't intuitive concepts, even though pressing two different buttons is. Maybe index-finger

Oh, yes, that's far more user-friendly! Whenever someone would click the right mouse button in Windows, let's make them hold a button on the keyboard while left-clicking.

There's a button on the Windows keyboard for right clicking. Never use it personally but no right left or right clicking is required. IMO Ctrl, shift and alt + three buttons on the mouse is just right, however if you want just a single button on the mouse you don't have to replace your PC with a Mac or vice versa - just the mouse.

I agree wholeheartedly. I had an elderly neighbor for 25 years who
developed emphysema, which significantly reduced his mobility and physical
flexibility. His family connected him to the Internet, which generated a
tons of questions for his computer-savvy neighbor, me. I taught him the
basics of windowing, email, spyware, etc., over time.

At one point he was having computer troubles, which turned out to be a
really nasty, intermittent, hard drive failure. It was taking a few days to
sort it all

I had long suspected, and later has come to prove it to myself, that in the end, a human being can really go long way being active with the brain and cognitive power, as long as that brain is kept well fed with experiences, and not least, challenges. Something this woman has said herself. I wish more people would stop complaining and fearing death (wishful thinking at best, of course) if they realize their brain and body will support them if they themselves lust for more life and are willing to say to themselves "i want to live more, i am not ready to stop being a thinker". That, in my opinion, is the main difference between 70 year old depressed or apathic amnesiacs and those 95 year olds who somehow use Internet, move around and just are being a great example on how to live a mature life.

Exceptions prove the rule. Some people maintain muscle mass and flexibility until late in life, some retain mental capacity, but everyone else diminishes to a pathetic state (a huge number diminish so fast as to not survive middle-age). Willpower will not enable you to age gracefully any more than it will make you a excellent baseball player or programmer.

Willpower will not enable you to age gracefully any more than it will make you a excellent baseball player or programmer.

You may be surprised just how much willpower has to do with each of those, actually. It may not be enough on it's own - it won't turn a man with no legs into michael jordan - but it's a critical component.

Of course, any disruption can easily spell the end. My grandmother went from being fairly self sustaining (we just had to shop for her) to someone who you basically had to make sure that they ate, in just a few months. All because she fell and hit herself and therefore had to lie still doing nothing for a couple of weeks, after which she declined rapidly.

She is still alive, but now has to live in elder living as she can't take care of simple stuff like making food. She even forgot how to play solita

Toilet plunge my karma, but why is this a/. headliner? Only light that is coming out of this is at least some early 20th century folk have melded into and use technology, as far as the statistic... who cares.

"Toilet plunge my karma, but why is this a/. headliner? Only light that is coming out of this is at least some early 20th century folk have melded into and use technology, as far as the statistic... who cares."

I always thought that Donald Crowdis was the oldest blogger and I still have him on my blog roll but he has not posted anything for more than two years at http://dontoearth.blogspot.com/ [blogspot.com] so now I am wondering if he is actually still around.
Does anybody know about him?
His last post says that he is not dead, but after two years you never know...